Exploring W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can write a creative paragraph inspired by W.H. Auden’s ekphrastic poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'.
Key learning points
- W.H. Auden’s poem ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’ is an ekphrastic poem.
- An ekphrastic poem is a poem which describes a piece of art, and is inspired by it.
- Each painting which inspired Auden’s ekphrastic poem depicts tragic events.
- However, what inspired Auden were the people in the paintings who seem to have apathetic responses to the tragic events.
- Auden focuses particularly on the apathy of the ploughman in Bruegel’s painting ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’.
Keywords
Plough - a large piece of farming equipment that is used to plant seeds and turn over soil
Ekphrastic - a poem which describes a piece of art, and is inspired by it
Apathetic - showing little interest or feeling in response to something
Old Masters - any person who is regarded as a skilled painter who worked in Europe before 1800
Martyrdom - death or suffering of someone because of their religious beliefs
Common misconception
Auden is saying suffering is unimportant.
Auden presents extreme suffering, but he is exploring how, inevitably, when something terrible is happening, something ordinary is happening at the same time too.
Teacher tip
Consider how you want to read the poem. Will pupils do this in pairs, or will you read as a class? What kind, if any, annotations are you expecting? Will pupils need further words defined other than the ones provided in the lesson?
Equipment
You need a copy of the poem W.H. Auden's 'Musée des Beaux Arts' from the Curtis Brown 1979 edition of Selected Poems, edited by Edward Mendelson.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match each sentence stem to its ending, showing your knowledge of 'The Fall of Icarus' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
Daedalus and Icarus.
constructs wings so they can escape.
his son not to fly too close to the sun.
flies too close to the sun.
the god Apollo his wings, saying he will never fly again.
Q2.In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. What was Bruegel's painting inspired by?
Q3.In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. How might we describe Icarus's death?
Q4.In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. What do we see if Icarus in this painting?
Q5.In the unit 'Myths and Legends', we look at a painting called 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus' by Pieter Bruegel. Focus on the figures apart from Icarus. What words most accurately describe them?
Q6.In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at an ekphrastic poem by Williams Carlos Williams. What is an ekphrastic poem?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.In the unit 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we look at four pieces of art about the same set of characters: Daedalus and Icarus. Starting with the first, put them in chronological order.
Q2.In 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', we focus on a poem by W.H. Auden called 'Musée des Beaux Arts'. What feeling does Auden explore in this poem?
Q3.In 'Myths, legends and stories that inspire', W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts' is an ekphrastic poem because …?
Q4.In W.H. Auden’s poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire'), who does Auden present as apathetic to the death of Icarus?
Q5.In W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts' ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire'), Auden explores the idea of apathy. Which sentence uses the word apathy correctly?
Q6.Which sentence is best inspired by Auden's interpretation of Pieter Bruegel's ploughman in 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'? ('Myths, legends and stories that inspire').
To help you plan your 8 English lesson on: Exploring W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 8 English lesson on: Exploring W.H. Auden's poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 English lessons from the Myths, legends and stories that inspire unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.